An estimated 6,300 Iowans will die from cancer in 2018, 18 times the number killed in auto accidents, according to a new report released March 6 by the State Health Registry of Iowa, based in the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Lung cancer will continue to be the most common cause of cancer death for both males and females and will be responsible for about 1,640—or about one out of every four—cancer deaths in Iowa, according to Cancer in Iowa: 2018.

The annual report also projects an estimated 17,800 new cancers will be diagnosed among Iowa residents this year. Breast cancer will remain the most common type of cancer diagnosed among females, while prostate cancer will remain the most common type among males.

“Overall, the number of new cases of cancer per year in Iowa is remaining flat,” says Mary Charlton, assistant professor of epidemiology at the UI College of Public Health. “In the past couple of years, we projected greater decreases in prostate cancer cases as a result of the 2012 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, but we haven’t seen big declines. This suggests PSA testing practices in Iowa have not substantially changed, despite the recommendations of the USPSTF.”

Researchers also are not seeing the anticipated decrease in lung cancer cases. According to Charlton, this likely reflects the fact that smoking rates in Iowa are no longer declining at the rate they were a decade ago.

The report includes county-by-county statistics, summaries of new research projects, and a special section focused on obesity-related cancer.

Barbara Baquero, CPH assistant professor of community and behavioral health, recently spoke to Public Health Minute about her work focusing on community-based health behavior interventions to reduce health inequalities related to obesity and cancer among Latinos in low-resource communities.